Although it’s always fun to play the field, it seems that flirting with other kinds of cuisine isn’t working out so well for Red Lobster anymore. That’s why the restaurant chain with seafood in its name is returning to its roots with a newly revamped menu, ditching things like tortilla soup and pork chops in favor of more lobster. [More]

At first, reading words like “oozed with sizzling fat” or “extra-tender meat” conjures up a tempting culinary event. But what if those words were linked with “fish heads”? That kind of dining experience is what many experts say could be a key component to reducing the world’s food waste. Yes, eating fish heads. [More]

We’ve written before about Walmart failing to keep its shelves stocked, but here’s a story about a different kind of neglect at the nation’s largest retailer. Shoppers at a New Jersey Walmart say the store was allowing the live fish in its pet department to fester in dirty, unfiltered water with dead fish sitting on the bottom of the tanks. [More]

A new report from a British activist group is placing Thailand’s fishing industry in some pretty hot water, with allegations that 15 Burmese workers of a Thai crew were basically slaves. The group is now urging the United States, which is the No. 1 importer of Thai fish products, to hold Thailand accountable for the reported abuses the workers suffered at the hands of the fishing crew. [More]

It isn’t just Los Angeles that is having a problem with mislabeled fish — a new study that tested seafood on menus, at grocery stores and in fancy specialty shops in New York City says plenty of the fish offerings there are frequently misidentified. So while you might think you’re ordering up a nice slab of red snapper, it could just be a regular old piece of tialpia. That kind of mislabeling and misrepresentation could also lead to plenty of health problems, say researchers. [More]

What you see is apparently not always what you’re getting in L.A., says a county Seafood Task Force that took on the problem of mislabeled fish in the food industry. The group found that a whole slew of issues that were widespread across supermarkets and restaurants alike that could pose health problems for consumers. [More]

We thought that the company behind Monster Energy drink (and its lawyers) were done with petty legal action against anyone bold enough to use the word “Monster.” We last reported on such action in 2009. Turns out that the, uh, monster was only sleeping, though, and the company has re-emerged to issue a cease and desist order to an aquarium keepers’ forum, Monster Fishkeepers. That site has owned their trademark since 2005, but Monster Energy apparently claims to own the word “monster.” And the letter “M.” [More]

The menu may identify a fish dish as one thing, but that doesn’t necessarily stop the cook from sending in a stunt-fish to take its place. The practice of baiting diners with an attractive-sounding fish and switching it with something less appealing may be more common than most people realize. [More]

Target has announced that, due to love of the planet, they have decided to stop selling farmed salmon. Salmon farms, according to Target’s press release, produce “pollution, chemicals, parasites and non-native farmed fish that escape from salmon farms all affect the natural habitat and the native salmon in the surrounding areas.” They’re switching to “sustainable” wild salmon. [More]

Last October, Bank of America screwed up and seized a vacation home that didn’t belong to them. They also changed the locks and shut off the power, leaving 75 pounds of salmon and halibut rotting for a week before it was discovered, writes Laura Elder of the Galveston Daily News.

The owner, Dr. Alan Schroit, and his wife discovered what had happened when they showed up on Halloween to prepare for a party they were going to host the next day.

Here’s the problem with fish: it’s delicious. So delicious that we humans like to eat some species until they’re nearly endangered. (Mmm…sea bass.) “Sustainable” isn’t just an environmental concern when it comes to fish—it’s good business, too. Which leads us to the problem of the hoki. The what?

Three scientists worry that feeding cow parts to farmed fish could expose seafood consumers to mad cow disease. The scientists published their findings in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and called on the government to ban cow meat and bone meal from appearing in fish feed.

If you subsisted on a diet entirely of fish, which would kill you first: mad-cow fish or super tuna? Two stories this week make you wonder. First, Reuters reports on the risk of mad cow disease from farmed fish. Scientists are concerned that the fish, who, curiously enough, dine on pieces of cow, may transmit Creutzfeldt Jakob disease to humans.

A reader sent us the following pics of the neglected aquariums in her local Walmart in Carmi, Illinois. She complained to a manager, but when she checked back “several hours later,” the tanks remained untouched. Well, the dead fish were probably slightly smaller, since the remaining live fish were eating them.

National Journal has an interesting article about the intersection of free trade and globalization with increased food safety abroad and at home. Rather than reject shipments of Chinese fish for being raised in disgusting environments, the US should require trading partners to set and enforce their own strict food safety standards and use globalization as a way to promote better standards worldwide, instead of a race to the bottom.